🤖 AI Bot Best Practices

With AI agents actively crawling the web to gather information for language models, properly configuring your server infrastructure and access controls is crucial. This comprehensive guide will help you balance accessibility with performance, ensuring AI bots can discover your content while maintaining optimal site performance.

Understanding the AI Bot Landscape

Today's web is visited by dozens of different AI bots, each with unique characteristics and purposes. Unlike traditional search engines that primarily index for later retrieval, AI bots often need deeper access to understand context, relationships, and nuanced information.

Major AI Bot User Agents

Here are the primary AI bots you should be aware of:

Robots.txt Configuration for AI Bots

Your robots.txt file is the first line of defense and invitation for AI crawlers. Here's how to configure it effectively.

Basic robots.txt Structure

# Allow all AI bots with reasonable restrictions
User-agent: *
Allow: /

# Specific AI bot configurations
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /
Crawl-delay: 2
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /admin/

User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /
Allow: /blog/
Allow: /docs/

User-agent: anthropic-ai
Allow: /
Crawl-delay: 1

User-agent: Google-Extended
Allow: /
Disallow: /private/

# Rate limit aggressive crawlers
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Crawl-delay: 5
Disallow: /internal/

# Block problematic bots (if needed)
User-agent: BadBot
Disallow: /

Strategic Allow/Disallow Patterns

What to Allow:

• Public-facing content (blog posts, articles, product pages)
• Documentation and help resources
• About/contact information
• Public API documentation

What to Disallow:

• Internal APIs and endpoints
• Admin panels and dashboards
• User-generated content areas (if privacy concerns exist)
• Duplicate content versions (print pages, etc.)
• High-bandwidth resources that don't add value

Crawl-Delay Recommendations

The crawl-delay directive helps manage server load:

• 0-1 seconds: Well-optimized sites with robust infrastructure
• 2-3 seconds: Most standard websites
• 5-10 seconds: Resource-constrained sites or during traffic spikes
• 10+ seconds: Very limited resources or low priority for AI indexing

Server-Side Configuration

Rate Limiting Implementation

Implement intelligent rate limiting based on user agent patterns:

Nginx Configuration Example

# Define rate limit zones for different bot types
limit_req_zone $bot_type zone=ai_bots:10m rate=10r/s;
limit_req_zone $bot_type zone=slow_bots:10m rate=2r/s;

# Map user agents to bot types
map $http_user_agent $bot_type {
    default "";
    "~*GPTBot" "ai_bot";
    "~*Claude-Web" "ai_bot";
    "~*Google-Extended" "ai_bot";
    "~*PerplexityBot" "slow_bot";
}

# Apply rate limiting in server block
server {
    location / {
        if ($bot_type = "ai_bot") {
            limit_req zone=ai_bots burst=20 nodelay;
        }
        if ($bot_type = "slow_bot") {
            limit_req zone=slow_bots burst=5;
        }
    }
}

Apache .htaccess Example

# Rate limiting using mod_ratelimit

    # Limit AI bots to 100 KB/s
    SetEnvIf User-Agent "GPTBot|Claude-Web|Google-Extended" ratelimit
    SetOutputFilter RATE_LIMIT
    SetEnv rate-limit 100


# Block specific user agents if needed

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} BadBot [NC]
    RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

Bandwidth Management

AI bots can consume significant bandwidth. Here's how to manage it:

1. Response Size Optimization: Ensure pages are well-compressed (gzip/brotli)
2. Conditional Responses: Use ETags and Last-Modified headers effectively
3. Resource Prioritization: Serve lighter versions to bots when appropriate
4. CDN Integration: Leverage CDN caching to reduce origin load

Monitoring and Analytics

Tracking AI Bot Activity

Set up comprehensive monitoring to understand bot behavior:

Key Metrics to Track

• Request Volume: Number of requests per bot per day
• Bandwidth Usage: Data transferred to each bot type
• Response Times: How quickly you serve bot requests
• Error Rates: 4xx/5xx responses to bot requests
• Crawl Patterns: Which pages are most frequently accessed

Log Analysis Example

# Analyze AI bot requests in Apache/Nginx logs
grep -i "GPTBot\|Claude-Web\|Google-Extended" access.log | \
 awk '{print $1, $7, $9}' | \
sort | uniq -c | sort -nr

# Count requests per bot
awk '{print $12}' access.log | \
grep -iE "GPTBot|Claude|Google-Extended|Perplexity" | \
sort | uniq -c | sort -nr

Google Analytics Integration

Track bot activity in GA4 with custom dimensions:

// Detect and track AI bots
const userAgent = navigator.userAgent;
const isAIBot = /GPTBot|Claude-Web|Google-Extended|Perplexity/i.test(userAgent);

if (isAIBot) {
    gtag('event', 'ai_bot_visit', {
        'bot_type': userAgent.match(/GPTBot|Claude-Web|Google-Extended|Perplexity/i)[0],
        'page_path': window.location.pathname
    });
}

Security Considerations

Authentication and Authorization

Protect sensitive areas while keeping public content accessible:

• Never expose authenticated endpoints to bots
• Implement proper session management
• Use CAPTCHA for form submissions if bot abuse occurs
• Monitor for credential stuffing attempts

Content Scraping Protection

While allowing legitimate AI bots, protect against malicious scraping:

• IP Rate Limiting: Limit requests per IP address
• Fingerprinting: Detect unusual access patterns
• Token-Based Access: For APIs, require authentication
• DDoS Protection: Use services like Cloudflare or AWS Shield

Fake Bot Detection

Some scrapers impersonate legitimate AI bots. Verify authenticity:

# Verify GPTBot via reverse DNS
host 54.165.123.45
# Should return: *.openai.com

# Verify Google-Extended
host 66.249.66.1
# Should return: *.googlebot.com

# In your server code, implement verification:
function verifyBot(ip, claimedBot) {
    const hostname = reverseDNS(ip);
    const expectedDomains = {
        'GPTBot': 'openai.com',
        'Claude-Web': 'anthropic.com',
        'Google-Extended': 'google.com'
    };
    return hostname.endsWith(expectedDomains[claimedBot]);
}

Performance Optimization

Caching Strategies

Implement smart caching to reduce server load:

• Static Content: Long cache times (1 year) for unchanging resources
• Dynamic Content: Short cache (5-15 minutes) with revalidation
• Bot-Specific Caching: Serve cached versions more aggressively to bots

Response Optimization

Make your responses faster and more efficient:

• Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Enable compression (gzip, brotli)
• Optimize images (WebP, proper sizing)
• Remove unnecessary tracking scripts for bot requests
• Use HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 for multiplexing

Best Practices Checklist

Common Scenarios and Solutions

Scenario 1: High Bot Traffic

Problem: AI bots are overwhelming your server.

Solution:

• Increase crawl-delay values in robots.txt
• Implement stricter rate limiting
• Use a CDN to handle static assets
• Contact aggressive bot operators to negotiate crawl rates

Scenario 2: Missing from AI Responses

Problem: AI assistants aren't citing your content.

Solution:

• Ensure robots.txt isn't blocking AI bots
• Create or improve your llms.txt file
• Check for technical issues (slow responses, errors)
• Improve content quality and authority signals

Scenario 3: Suspicious Bot Activity

Problem: Seeing unusual patterns from "AI bots."

Solution:

• Verify bot authenticity via reverse DNS
• Check for credential stuffing attempts
• Implement CAPTCHA if necessary
• Block confirmed malicious IPs/user agents

Future-Proofing Your Configuration

The AI bot landscape evolves rapidly. Stay prepared:

• Stay Informed: Follow AI company blogs for bot updates
• Flexible Configuration: Use wildcard patterns where appropriate
• Documentation: Keep internal docs on your bot policies
• Testing: Regularly test your site with new AI assistants
• Community: Participate in GEO/AI optimization communities

Conclusion

Properly configuring your website for AI bot access is no longer optional—it's a fundamental part of modern web infrastructure. By following these best practices, you'll ensure your content is discoverable by AI systems while maintaining excellent site performance and security.

Remember that the goal isn't to block AI bots, but to welcome them responsibly. With the right configuration, monitoring, and optimization strategies, you can become a trusted source for AI assistants while protecting your infrastructure and providing excellent service to all visitors.

Start with the basics—a well-configured robots.txt and basic rate limiting—then gradually implement more sophisticated monitoring and optimization as you learn your specific traffic patterns and needs.